'''Allods Online''' is a Russian [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] of the ''VideoGame/{{Allods}}'' series of games by {{Creator/Nival}}. Like those games, ''Allods Online'' takes place on a series of islands known as "Allods", surrounded by a sea of volatile and demonic energy known as "The Astral". While travel between Allods was possible only through a PortalNetwork in previous installations of the series, the main plot point of ''Allods Online'' is the invention of [[CoolShip astral ships]] by the race of [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Gibberlings]], allowing direct travel between the Allods.

The game features six races split into [[GoodRepublicEvilEmpire two factions]] waging a ForeverWar on each other: Humans of Kania, [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]], and [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Gibberlings]] for the League; Humans of Xadagan, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]], and [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Arisen]] for the Empire. The visual style of the League resembles UsefulNotes/KievanRus (or, to be exact, a ThemeParkVersion thereof) while the Empire is composed DirtyCommunists, which gives the setting some flavor of the Russian Civil War. These styles, however, run [[CanonDiscontinuity against the previous games of the series]], where Kania was a [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy Medieval European Fantasyland]] and Xadagan's style was ArabianNights.

The player can choose between nine classes: [[MightyGlacier Warriors]], [[StoneWall Paladins]], [[FragileSpeedster Scouts]], [[TheBeastmaster Wardens]], [[CombatMedic Healers]], [[SquishyWizard Mages]], [[EvilSorcerer Summoners]], [[PsychicPowers Psionicists]] and recently added [[TheBard Bards]]. Not every class is available for each race.

The development of this game itself is a long story with a BittersweetEnding. ''Allods Online'' has been envisioned by {{Creator/Nival}} and its CEO, Sergey Orlovsky, for many years, with first plans dating back to late Nineties. Seeing that the project was very much ahead of its time (specifically, due to the lack of high-speed Internet connection in Russia back then) they postponed it for a decade, producing three single-player games in the setting in between. When real development started under the sub-brand "Nival Online", later renamed to "Astrum Nival", the game was much anticipated by the Russian gaming community which looked forward to what would become the first Russian MMORPG apart from the "lesser" browser games.

However, during the [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Open Beta]] of ''Allods Online'' in 2009, Astrum Nival was sold to "mail.ru", a large provider of Internet services infamous for its CorruptCorporateExecutive tactics. Driven by the goal to yield as much profit from the game as possible, the new owners subjected the project to heavy ExecutiveMeddling. As a result, the free-to-play model quickly passed the AllegedlyFreeGame terrain right into the realm of BribingYourWayToVictory, which is especially blatant in PvP battles. The prices for items were sometimes ridiculously high, with a set of [[AmplifierArtifact runes]] being as expensive as $50.000. Just to scale: the average wage in Russia is about $670 per month. As a reminder, this all happened during the [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Open Beta]]. The release of the game in 2010... [[FromBadToWorse didn't quite improve it]].

Apparently, the policies of mail.ru led to a significant exodus of players, because in the early 2013, they have added a pay-to-play server without the item shop and with a surprisingly moderate subscription fee. It is yet to see which effects this will have on the community and the project as a whole.

----!!The game contains examples of the following tropes:* AllegedlyFreeGame: The game not-so-subtley urges you to invest some real money. Without cash shop items, the difficulty of the game at higher levels is vastly increased.** The full extent of it had become obvious when the subscription server was introduced. At first, it was merely a copy of the regular server, but with cash shop stripped out. As it turned out, without those items players were barely able to kill mobs at all, which prompted for rebalancing.* AnAdventurerIsYou: it's a MMORPG, so it naturally has a character class system. The standard classes have varying names depending on the race, for example the Elven paladin is a [[ShapedLikeItself Paladin]], the Imperial paladin is a [[ThePoliticalOfficer Comissar]], and the Orc paladin is an Enforcer.** The Tank: Warriors and Paladins** The Healer: Healers and Summoners** The Nuker: Mages** Pet Master: Summoners and Wardens** DPS Class: Scouts** The Jack of All Trades: Bards* ATankardOfMooseUrine: the AFK animation for a female Orc character is sipping from a bottle labeled "9", a reference to a brand of cheap Russian beer "Baltika 9".** It also has the wine counterpart to that trope: the "Three Axes Port", which is a reference to the Soviet/Russian 777 brand of bum wine.* TheBeastmaster: Wardens, who are nature-aligned characters who always has their pet following behind. Summoners might also count, as they can only have a single pet out at a time, but has a bit more variety.* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Male orcs are hulking brutes with tusks. Female orcs are muscular gray-skinned women with CuteLittleFangs.* BloodMagic: Summoners use BloodMagic to [[TheMedic heal their allies]].%%* BribingYourWayToVictory: The game sometimes gets accused of this.* ChurchMilitant: Paladins.* CityNoir: Nezebgrad. It looks like Moscow in Soviet times, only with street gangs, ethnic violence and a SerialKiller mini raid boss.* CombatMedic: Healers are exactly what their name implies, but they can also pick up a few powerful melee and magic attacks.** For this reason they're a force to be reckoned with in PVP, where they strut around in the heaviest armor and using the deadliest of melee weapons like a pure fighter class, only with tons of magic and self-healing to boot.** This is also one of the few games where the healers do NOT start with a healing ability.* CrystalDragonJesus: Tenses.** Crystal Dragon Lenin: Nezeb.* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The (human) Empire is based on the Soviet Union: the main city named after one of the leaders Nezebgrad, a snow covered area called Siveria; the Arisen culture resembles Ancient Egypt (e.g., mummification), etc. The League is based on Ancient Rus and Imperial Russia. The Elves resembles the French somewhat.* FloatingContinent: The entire game world.%% * FragileSpeedster: Scouts wear this hat, focusing on archery and rogue-style combat emphasizing stealth and speed.* {{Gainaxing}}* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: The League is democratic and generally seen as the good guys. The Empire, however, isn't always painted as evil, so this can be seen as a case of WhiteAndGrayMorality.* GroundhogDayLoop: There is a place on Kirah where one day before famous battle repeats itself endlessly.* JustTheFirstCitizen: the Imperial leader and archmage Yasker notably doesn't style himself "Emperor".* KnightTemplar: The Xadaganians somewhat appears to be like this.* LowerClassLout: a stereotypical Orc.* MagicKnight: Many classes combine magic and melee in this manner, particularly Wardens and Paladins.* {{Magitek}}: Lots of it. The setting borders on DungeonPunk, but doesn't take itself quite seriously enough for that.** Also the Arisen are the entire race of magical cyborgs.%% * MightyGlacier: Warriors tend to hit hard and are fairly difficult to kill themselves, being one of the two possible "tank" classes.%% ** The other example is the Paladin, who tends to focus more on one-on-one combat than the Warrior, but makes up for it with intense survivability, and that's before their healing abilities.* MindRape: The modus operandi of the Psionicist.* MonochromaticEyes: Most elves.* NoSwastikas: During the [[UsefulNotes/BetaTest Closed Beta]], the Empire featured the Sovied five-pointed star as one of its symbols. It was later removed to prevent controversies.* NotSoDifferent: Quests concerning League-Empire War bluntly show that both sides have virtually the same goals and are keen to use identical methods to achieve them.* OurElvesAreBetter: They look more like over-grown fairies than anything else, with their wings. The game also loves playing with how vain and concerned with their looks they are.** In that sense, you could consider them an AffectionateParody of elves from other mythos.* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Mostly Warcraft style, though a bit darker. While working for TheEmpire, their main goal is fairly sympathetic.* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Arisen are undead, but also cyborgs. They have mechanical limbs and a love for science and magic.* ThePoliticalOfficer: the Empire has them in place of priests and paladins. The Imperial paladin is called "Commissar", and the Imperial healer "Political Officer".* PatronSaint: every character has a patron Martyr and can pray to them for healing and buffs. The Martyrs grant more powerful abilities as the characters level up. In addition, during a festival in honor of a particular Martyr, a character with this Martyr as patron can spend "Jubilee Coins" to get gifts.* PsychicNosebleed: An implicit, non-psychic variation. In the Empire tutorial, a Kanian Cleric has created a barrier preventing you from moving forward. He's currently locked in a struggle with two Xadaganian scientists. When you tip the scale and destroy the barrier, the Cleric dies as a result.* PsychicPowers: Psionicists specialize in this.* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Gibberlings, who always appear in threes. Yes, even when you play them.* SquishyWizard: Mages. Summoners can qualify too. Strangely, this does not applies to healers at higher level.* ShatteredWorld* ShoutOut: many. If you are not well-versed in Soviet/Russian culture and history you'll miss a lot of them though.** Yasker's tower in Nezebgrad looks like the projected-but-never-built Palace of Soviets in Moscow.** There is a place on Koba Plateau [[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} that is surrounded by a Cordon and has some anomalous places with strange artifacts various characters try to recover for profit]].* StoneWall: Paladins, one of the tank classes that even has a special mechanic that lets one further mitigate damage. Warriors can also be this.* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: With gibberlings, it's just about all hairstyle.* {{Uberwald}}: Darkwater in Kania.* WingsDoNothing: Played with, the Elves never run on their feet, but strangely the wings do not let them hover over water.** At least when they are moving, it appears the elves' wings can't fully support them. When they "walk," their wings flutter and they take long, loping steps. Very long. About equivalent to a good ten or twelve average human steps.** Prop wings are also a popular fashion accessory in the game. Of course they do nothing.----